PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon attorney general says Philip Morris USA Inc., has agreed to pay $56 million to a state crime victims fund after more than a decade fighting punitive damages awarded to the family of a Portland smoker who died of cancer.
The decision follows an Oregon Supreme Court ruling in December that rejected the tobacco giant’s challenge to a portion of the punitive damages from a 1999 case.
Under Oregon law, 60 percent of punitive damages go to a state fund to compensate crime victims and the rest goes to plaintiffs. Philip Morris paid $61 million to the family of Jesse Williams in 2009 while continuing to fight the state’s share of damages.
Officials from Richmond, Va.,-based Philip Morris and the company’s Oregon lawyers did not return calls seeking comment.